Contracts

That song is still going round in my head and I keep humming it or singing along.

The bridge evening was very civilised, although I am sure you will be disappointed to learn that I wore nothing smarter than a pair of jeans - and a top, obviously, as it wasn’t ‘strip bridge’. In fact it was contract bridge, which is basically whist but you start by placing bids about how many tricks you are going to win and then if you win the contract you then have to fulfil it. Or something like that... I had trouble remembering whose turn it was a lot of the time so anything else was a bit beyond me.

Anyway, today I am off to see a couple of houses. I don’t know any of the details of them as my friend C has arranged them and sent me a text to say where to turn up later. We have seen a lot of houses but they have been rather mixed. There was one we really liked but it was too expensive, which is surprising what with this being London... Most of the others have just not felt like the right place. We want a three bedroom house so that we can rent out the spare room if we want to, but a lot of houses round here have real box rooms as the third bedroom.

Some places we have looked at have been in a real state. One was a nice enough house but the owners had not tidied up at all and there was stuff everywhere. Plates of food, toys, clothes, papers – pretty much anything you can think of. Another house we looked at they hadn’t even bothered to flush the toilet – and they really should have.

We did actually put in an offer on a house back in September which was accepted but we were then gazumped. I remember when the estate agent phoned me to tell me and I just replied “But that’s totally unethical!” as though she was then going to promptly tell the vendor off and make her change her mind. It was a really nice house so we were rather gutted and we haven’t seen anything comparable since. Hopefully the houses today will inspire us.

Then I have to go over to my parents’ to try and return some order to their house, but mum is going to cook some roast chicken, which is my favourite, so that will be good.

Mum is also going to give me hand with moving my TV from the old place. I spoke to a friend last weekend who had agreed to take it and we’d sorted out a plan. I then texted her on Friday night to check it was all still ok and she replied saying she was not busy all weekend. I was decidedly miffed, as it is the final thing I have to move and this is the last weekend I have full access to the house. I couldn’t be bothered to make a fuss, so instead just asked mum if I could store it at their house temporarily.

It does really frustrate me when people back out of a plan. There is a part of me that is like a little kid that just wants to say “But, but you promised”. Obviously there might be circumstances where it cannot be avoided but to me if you agree to do something then you should do what you can to honour it. I suppose I just don’t like letting people down.

I guess that means that contract bridge is not really the game for me because every time I make a contract and don’t fulfil it, I am going to have a terrible sense of guilt at having not done as I had said I would. It’s serious stuff you know.